You Found Me
by KitaraStrife
Summary: What happens when someone lost is suddenly found by the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, but won't give any details but the name of a cousin they so desperately want to see? FULL SUMMARY INSIDE! Rated for the mouths of characters either O.C. or non.
1. The Letter and Explanations

**"You Found Me"**

**Chapter 1: The Letter and Explanations**

_**SUMMARY:**__ What happens when someone lost is suddenly found by the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, but won't give any details but the name of a cousin they so desperately want to see? The Darkness is on the move again, the only question is "Why?". This is my take on what I think KH3 will be (I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT WHOLE "Sora goes into a newspaper or whatever and gets suckered into becoming a sort of murder!" CRAP IS THE 'TRUE' KH3!!) and will be a __**slight**__ crossover with FF6, FF7, FF8, and FFX & FFX-2. ... Not to mention a bit AU for some messing around with families on my part. __**sweatdrop**__ Yeah, pairings will DEFINITELY include the following:  
__**FROM KH ONLY:**__ SoraxKairi, Rikux??, RoxasxNamin__é, AxelxXion (mainly because I can and if I DO throw in Marluxia and Larxene like I'm thinking of doing, the Lightning Bitch is SOOOO gonna be with Flowerman!), Zemyx (a.k.a. ZexionxDemyx for those who have been living under a rock and because I just can NOT bring myself to pair these two up with anyone else but each other! __**XD**__)  
__**FROM FF6 ONLY:**__ Locke ColexTerra Branford, Setzer GabbianixGogo (with Gogo later turning out to be Setzer's old girlfriend he thought was dead, Darryl! __**XD**__ I just KNOW I'm gonna be dodging dice for this one once he reads it!)  
__**FROM FF7 ONLY:**__CloudxTifa, ZackxAerith (I told you it was a bit AU! __**XD**__), VincentxYuffie, Cid HighwindxShera (yeah, I'm throwing in Highwind's wife from the FF7 mini-series! __**;P**__), TsengxElena (yay TURKS!), RenZoo (a.k.a. RenoxYazoo for those who don't know and probably the ONE of the ONLY homo pairings in this story cause I just CAN'T bring myself to pair Reno up with anyone else! __**XD**__), Reeve TuestixShalua Rui (for any KH fans who don't know who these two are, copy and paste the following into your browser and take out all the spaces: finalfantasy . wikia . com / wiki / List _ of _ Dirge _ of _ Cerberus _ -Final _ Fantasy _ VII - _ Characters  
Just scroll down until you see "World Regenesis Organization" and click on the two names underneath that to learn more about Reeve Tuesti and Shalua Rui)  
__**FROM FF8 ONLY:**__ LeonxRinoa (once again, another reason for the AU warning), ZellxQuistis, IrvinexSelphie, SeiferxFujin (with Fujin starting out as Fuu, but that will all be explained in the later chapters I'm planning on writing)  
__**FROM FFX & FFX-2 ONLY:**__ TidusxYuna, WakkaxLulu, BuddyxRikku (like I said on my profile, just to piss Brother off! __**XD**__), GippalxPaine (look at my profile for my reason behind this)  
__**CROSSOVER PAIRINGS:**__ SephirothxUltimecia (Sephy obviously from FF7, Ultimecia being from FF8)  
And there may be more, I just need to think of them; the MickeyxMinnie and DonaldxDaisy pairings are obviously implied considering it's Kingdom Hearts. Also, I know I'm taking on a monster with writing this, but I seriously want to write it anyways! Can anyone say mental-masochist?! But I think I've said too much. Just please read and review? _**:(**

Kit: Hey, y'all!! I'm back with an installment for the KH fandom written as a final grade for one of my TWO –– yes, TWO –– English classes 2nd semester of my senior year of high school!! We had to "write an **original** piece of descriptive narrative writing" and I, of course after asking if it was in the boundaries for this assignment, chose to write mine as a fanfic, even going as far as to include all of this nonsense at the beginning so my teacher could get a feel for how I like to write here on !! **(XD)** But I digress! This is just something I wrote out off the top of my head—no plot line thought out or anything—so things might get a little wonky once in a while. Now then... who to have do the disclaimer?? Hmm.... LUXORD!  
Luxord: **walks in, shuffling a deck of cards** Must I read this for you?  
Kit: Yes, because I just HAPPEN to know a nice little SECRET of yours, Luxy. **evil glint in eye**  
Luxord: You do not.  
Kit: Dude, it's me. Of course I do. **holds up a photograph envelope thing from Wal-Mart**  
Luxord: **eyes bug out of head while thinking "Aww, f—k!"** KitaraStrife does not own any of the rights to the Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy video game series, nor anything else mentioned in this story other than the shoddy plot line—you spelled that wrong, by the way—and any O.C.'s (Original Characters) created by her or "borrowed" from friends such as H e a r tless f a i r ytale and Cooley Fair of this very site. Any similarities to any real person are not intended and thus just happen to be. She is only borrowing the majority of the characters she is using in this story with the best of intentions and thus, having me read this disclaimer to state so, does NOT need to be sued for the most likely high amounts of money which she does not have. There, I read it. NOW GIVE ME THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS!!!  
Kit: Hm? What photographs??  
Luxord: The ones you have of me making out with Larxene, dammit!  
Kit: **(O.O)** Uhh.... Luxy?? You realize I was just BLUFFING, right? **holds up a series of photographs of the Daughtry concert from August, 2008** You're a skilled gambler; you should've known that. Now you're gonna have Marluxia on your ass in three... two... ONE.  
Marluxia: WHAAAAAAT!!!!!!!???????? **runs in with pink-bladed-and-green-handled scythe raised to kill and proceeds to chase Luxord around the room**  
Kit: **watches for two seconds before busting out laughing** (XD) Yes, my teacher, THIS is how insane it is in my head! Trust me; you do NOT want to even ATTEMPT to get inside my head! Now then, ON WITH —!!  
Larxene: **runs in **MARLUXIA! DON'T KILL HIM! WE WERE DRUNK!! **runs past Kit to try and stop Marluxia from killing Luxord, even though she has NO idea why**  
Kit: **(O.o)** Ooooookay...?? That was odd. **shakes head** Anyway!! ON WITH THE SHOW!!!

_**EDIT ON MAY 26, 2009!!!: Typing this edit the day that I turned this thing in to my teacher, but... the title of this story MIGHT change, but for now I am keeping it "You Found Me". Said title I am borrowing from Kelly Clarkson's song "You Found Me" which my boyfriend just happens to have on his iPod!**_ (:D) _**I was borrowing his iPod one day last week and was kinda scrolling through the songs during my 4th and 5th period classes (would've done so during 6th and 7th as well, but I sit RIGHT in front of the door during 6th and although my 6th period English teacher—yeah, 6th is my other English class—doesn't really give a crap if we listen to our iPods or other music devices during class so long as she isn't teaching, there's this teacher at my school that will walk RIGHT INTO A CLASS THAT'S NOT EVEN HIS and take your cell phone and/or iPod and/or mP3 if he sees you with it out; and then there's 7th period which is Study Hall and I REALLY don't know if my Study Hall teacher would yell at me for having an iPod out or not, so I don't even bother in that class, but anyways...) and scrolling through his the songs he has on there, seeing what ones were titled something that would be good for this fanfic and listening to them, and came across "You Found Me" by Kelly Clarkson, only... it said "Unknown Artist" on his iPod cause he tends to get most of his music off of Limewire. Anyways, I just thought that since I didn't have the whole "I'm borrowing my title from a song by Kelly Clarkson" in the disclaimer, I'd at least state it in some sort of edit thingy. That's a—OH, WAIT!! Last thing to mention is that I didn't include a summary with what I handed in to my teacher, so the summary up above is all for you readers! NOW that's all, so I'll let you all get on to reading chapter one of this!**_

* * *

The clang of metal rang out as the thunder crashed over head. Rain fell hard in large wet drops, stinging the skin of any wretched soul unfortunate enough to still be outside at a time such as this. A time when heroes were needed once more. A time when AVALANCHE needed more members than ever. A time when, with his strength multiplied through his army of Darkness and villains, Sephiroth had returned.

**SCENE CHANGE!!**

Everything began not even one month after Sora and Riku had battled Xemnas, leader of the Nobody group called Organization XIII, and managed to find their way out of the Darkness and back to the Light and Destiny Islands. The two Keyblade wielders had been missing from their home world for almost two years, starting on a night that was stormy and dark, with the sky covered in blue-and-purple clouds. But I digress.

Oh, who am I? I am someone who will be introduced later on. Do not worry, I will tell you readers who of the characters in this story I am after I am introduced. Now then, where was I? Oh yes, Sora and Riku after their battle with Man–I mean Xemnas.

Not but a month after their return to Destiny Islands, the two boys were lounging on their favorite mini island, connected by a bridge to the slightly larger island which they and their four friends—Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka—always played on. A teenage boy of fifteen years with gravity-defying spiky light brown hair, ocean blue eyes, and a face containing only hints of baby fat, Sora was leaning against the first of two bends in the awkwardly-growing Paopu tree in his white-outlined black jacket with silver shoulder guard-looking designs and yellow straps; red, yellow, black, and dark blue shirt; black fingerless gloves with yellow and white stripes; black and dark blue baggy shorts with yellow straps and red-and-black pouches for pockets; and black and yellow shoes with dark blue crisscrossing straps, his signature silver chain crown necklace around his neck. His best friend of sixteen years with layered silver hair that fell about two inches past his shoulders and aquamarine eyes that revealed wisdom beyond his years, Riku was sitting on the trunk of the Paopu tree with his to his left and the second bend in the tree to his right in his black two-way zip-up tank top underneath a light beige sleeveless zip-up vest with yellow and navy blue accents; light beige fingerless half-arm warmer on his left hand; baggy blue jeans held up by a silver-studded black belt; and light beige sneakers with gray, yellow and black accents. Both teens were staring out at the ocean, Sora with his gloved hands behind his head and Riku with his right foot comfortably resting on the bark of the tree with his right arm draped lazily across his knee and his left hand resting on the tree beside him. The slightly tropical summer wind softly rustled the leaves of the Paopu and other trees on the small island, as well as the boys' hair.

"Nothing's changed, huh?" asked Riku, breaking the silence.

"Nope. Nothing will."

"What a small world," Riku said, talking about their home.

"But part of one that's much bigger," Sora replied, knowing that Riku understood he was talking about their world being connected to all the other worlds out there in the galaxy—connected through the Keyblade.

"Yeah," agreed Riku.

A few seconds of silence passed between them as they felt the light mist of waves crashing into the island caress their skin. Then Sora turned his head to look up at his best friend and ask, "Hey Riku… what do you think it was—the door to the light?"

Laughing, Riku hopped down from his perch on the Paopu tree, Sora standing up straight; both boys turned to face each other. Pointing to the brunette's heart, the elder said, "This."

Sora looked slightly perplexed, placing his own hand over his heart. "This?"

"Yeah. It's always closer than you think," the silverette told him, the corner of his mouth curving slightly in a smile. Sora grinned a second later, understanding his words.

Suddenly, a voice called out, "Sora! Riku!" They turned to see a girl with vibrant dark red hair layered to her shoulders and brushed mainly to the right and blue eyes wearing a pink dress that had part of a white tank top attached to the top of it and a black hood attached to the white straps, the dress having a total of four zippers –– one at the bottom of the middle set of teeth, undone up to the third set of teeth, and one at the top of the middle set of teeth, undone slightly more to show off the white, with the final two from the bottom hem up until _just_ below top hem on either side of the middle zipper –– the on the front of it, the entire dress ending just a little too short for some tastes; her signature white stone necklace around her neck; three bracelets –– one blue, one gray, and one white –– on her left wrist; a black belt with four square metal rings—two in the front and two in the back—to which two black straps are attached using two rings on either side, a lavender and black pouch clipped to the strap on her left; and lavender-and-white slightly-high top shoes with black soles and and laces going through only the first and third pairs of holes before tying around her ankles running across the bridge towards them, her right hand waving and something clutched in her left hand. She ran up to them, stopping a few feet away.

"Hey, what's up?" Sora asked, worried that something was wrong.

The girl, Kairi, took a few more seconds to catch her breathe before she said, "Look," and held up a corked bottle. The bottle itself was not that fascinating, but what was _inside_ the bottle was: a single small piece of paper rolled up and stamped with two small black circles atop a slightly larger black circle–King Mickey's seal.

"From the King?" inquired a surprised Sora as he reached out and took the bottle from Kairi's outstretched hand. He pulled the cork out and dumped the letter into his hand, unrolling it so they could all read it. Riku moved to read over his shoulder while Kairi managed to read it upside-down:

_Dear Sora, Riku, and Kairi,_

_Sorry to bother you all so soon after you all finally got reunited with each other and your family and friends, but it can't be helped. Ya see, there seems to be trouble brewing again and we're gonna need all the help we can get!_

_A few days ago, Minnie and I received word from Leon that they found a young girl passed out in Ansem's computer room two weeks ago. She looked like she'd been through a lot, and Leon said she didn't wake up for a week._

_When she did wake, they tried to get her to tell them what happened to her, but all she would tell them was she wanted her cousin. Apparently it took them a few more days to coax her cousin's name out of her, and the name she gave surprised them, Cloud included. (Ever since Tifa showed up, he's been hanging around the others more and more.) Here's what Leon wrote in his letter:_

_**'She kept her gaze on Pooh's book, rubbing her arm and biting her lip, refusing to look at us for another five minutes. I heard Cloud and Cid sigh at the same time I did–they must have thought she wouldn't tell us today like I did. Just when I was about to tell her she didn't have to tell us today if she didn't want to, she spoke.**_

_**"Islands."**_

_**We all looked at her, shocked that she had spoken. We all remained silent as we waited for her to continue.**_

_**"Destiny Islands… I-I want m-my Destiny Islands cousin……S—," she cut herself off and wrapped both arms around herself. We waited with baited breath for her to continue—something very uncharacteristic of me as you well know. A minute passed before she finished: "I want my Destiny Islands cousin……Sora."**_

_**Everyone gasped, the girls taking a step back. We've tried to get more information out of her, but she won't say anything about it except wanting to see Sora. We don't know what else to do, even though we don't want to disturb Sora so soon after he defeated Organization XIII, so we all decided to ask your opinion on this.'**_

_He went on to say that he was leaving it up to me if I should contact you. I talked it over with Minnie, Daisy, Chip and Dale, and the fellas, and we all agreed you should be notified. None of us remembers ya mentioning having a cousin, Sora, but she does look related from the picture Leon sent me with his letter. I'll be sending Donald and Goofy to pick ya up in about a week. I'm guessing you've already explained to your friends and family what happened to ya, showing 'em the Keyblades and your skills with them and magic as proof. Haha! Knowing you boys, you showed off by sparring with each other! I hope you guys decide to come with Donald and Goofy in the Gummi ship. If not, I gave 'em permission to spend a day or two with ya—they really miss ya, Sora._

_Sincerely your loyal pal,  
King Mickey_

_P.S. I remembered how ya said Kairi's letter managed to reach you boys when you were in the Darkness after battling Xemnas and thought I'd try a similar approach to send this letter to you. I went to the largest lake here at the Castle and put the letter in the bottle before setting it in the water and watching it float away, praying that it would reach your world. But just in case that failed, Minnie agreed with Daisy in that I should write a copy and send it with Donald and Goofy. So, if you didn't get my message in a bottle, they can fill ya in. Hope to see you three real soon!_

Looking up from the letter, the three teens exchanged glances of shock mixed with amusement and confusion. None of them seemed to want to break the silence, to voice their thoughts on the king's letter. None of them moved from the island with the Paopu tree; the wind blew silently through the trees above their heads.

Finally, Riku broke the silence and chuckled. "We'd be wrong to say that we showed off by sparring."

"Hm... I guess you're right," agreed Sora with a smile.

"But that still doesn't change the fact that your cousin is with Leon and everyone in Radiant Garden, Sora." Yes, Kairi. Way to kill the mood. ... Erm... sorry. Those were my thoughts when I heard she'd said that. ... Let's get back on topic.

"We don't know if the girl's really Sora's cousin, or someone who's really good at acting and or being forced to say she is."

"What do you suggest we do, Riku? Just sit back and relax while the forces of darkness could be hard at work?"

Sora looked between his two friends as they argued, looking to the king's letter once again before his eyes suddenly widened. "OH!"

The two arguing teens stopped bickering and looked to the brunette.

"What's wrong, Sora?" Kairi asked worriedly.

When the champion of Light did not respond, Riku put a hand on his shoulder. "Sora?"

That seemed to snap him out of his trance as Sora shook his head and looked at them. "I think the girl _is_ my cousin! Kairi, didn't you say that my mom got a letter from my Aunt Amaya soon after you first returned home?" he asked, turning to the seventh Princess of Heart. "A letter saying that she couldn't find her daughter?"

The redhead's eyes widened as the meaning of Sora's words became clear to her. "You don't think—!"

"He does," breathed Riku, his aquamarine orbs wide as realization dawned on him as well. They all glanced at the letter once more before looking at each other and nodding in unison.

The next morning, Sora woke bright and early—a habit from sleeping in open areas where Heartless could attack at any moment—and went about his normal routine, heading downstairs to grab a bite of homemade Paopu jam-on-toast before heading out, giving his mom a kiss on the cheek and saying he was meeting Riku at Kairi's. His mother just smiled and told him to be good and not have too much fun. With a laughed comment about there never being such a thing as too much fun, Sora ran out the door and headed for the mayor's house. The boy completely missed the saddened quality that his mother's smile took on as he disappeared from her view.

Leaning against the front gate of the mayor's house with his arms crossed and eyes closed, Riku looked up at the sound of hurried footsteps on the gravel-and-sand road. He smirked to himself as he saw a spiky-haired brunette cram the last of a piece of toast in his mouth.

"And I thought you said you got up early these days," he teased, the brunette stopping a few paces away. Said brunette glared at him as he licked the last of a red orange substance from his fingers.

"Not everyone is as much of an early bird as you, Riku. Now are we going in or what?" he retorted, looking to the big tan house as he wiped his hands on his pants.

Lightly pushing off the gate of the white picket fence, Riku held it open as he bowed and eloquently waved his hand in front of him. "Ladies first."

Sora just crossed his arms and sent the silverette a look of annoyance, a single eyebrow raised in questioning. "I forget: which of us has the longer hair here?" he asked with a sneer.

"You're the one with the girly face."

"I am not!"

"Are you two just going to stand there arguing all day or come inside?" They turned to see Kairi with the front door open, her arms crossed as she leaned against the framework with a smirk plastered on her face. Sora just laughed nervously as he scratched his head, Riku shrugging it off like they had not just been arguing before heading through the gate with the younger teen hurrying after him.

As they walked through the large house, Kairi asked Sora if he had the letter. Sora froze and lapped himself in the head.

"Scatter-brained as ever," muttered Riku as he shook his head.

"Sora!"

"Haha! I'm kidding!" Sora laughed as he pulled the bottle from the day before out of his pocket. "I put it in my pocket last night so I wouldn't forget it."

"Sora, that wasn't funny!" chided Kairi.

"What wasn't funny, Kai?" The three teens looked up to their right to see Nari, the mayor and Kairi's adoptive mother ever since the redhead first arrived on their island when she was five-years-old, standing half-way up––or down, in this case––the stairs. The woman had long light blue hair that fell to her waist in soft waves and curls, half of it up with her turquoise bangs framing her face. Her eyes were a calm deep purple framed by a lavender eyeshadow with a light topaz eyeliner and mascara, her cheeks dusted a very faint rose and her lips painted a light pink with just a slight hint of glitter. The woman was in a lavender T-shirt, a pair of what looked to be her favorite faded blue jeans that really did not need the green belt to hold them up, and her rarely-worn-out-in-public purple tennis shoes. A pair of purple leather gloves was barely visible from her back pocket given the angle they were seeing her from.

"Morning, mom!" the girl exclaimed with a smile as the woman finished descending the stairs, the two exchanging a brief hug once on equal ground. "Nothing really, just Sora being a jerk," she continued, shooting a quick glare at said boy over her shoulder as she walked to the kitchen with her mom. Behind them, Sora spluttered while Riku followed after the two females, laughing at the boy.

Running into the kitchen with the bottled letter in hand, Sora asked, "How am I a jerk, Kairi?"

"If you don't know, then I think Roxas' roots have gotten to your brain," she huffed, setting down plates full of pancakes, bacon, natto, and rice upon the large table.

"What's with all the racket so early in the morning?" asked a gruff voice from behind the now drooling teen. Sora jumped and whirled around to see Kairi's father via adoption. The man was still in his nightwear—a black tank top with a pair of dark blue pajama bottoms—and a pair of obviously worn brown slippers. His shoulder length green hair was sticking up everywhere, reminding the brunette of a green-haired version of his friend Cloud. The man always managed to sneak up on Sora like a ninja, and then always proceeded to make him want to laugh by doing _something_ to make himself look like a little kid, such as right now as the man yawned and rubbed one of his chocolate brown eyes in an attempt to wake up further.

"Ohayo, Akito-kun," Nari said with a smile over her shoulder, not being able to leave the stove due to the leek-and-curry omelette she was making for herself.

"Morning, dad." Kairi ran around the table to give the man a hug and kiss on the cheek, continuing on to grab a jar of something red orange from a shelf next to the doorway.

Sitting down at the table, Akito blinked as his gaze wandered around the kitchen, apparently looking for something. Riku, already sitting backwards in one of the chairs, handed him the morning paper from his back pocket. "Ah, thank you, Riku," he said to the silverette with a nod as he took it and scanned the front page, opening it up a second later.

"Are you boys hungry?" asked Nari as she sat down next to her husband with her omelette. "It seems Kairi made enough to satisfy any warrior knight," she continued, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she looked at the two boys, though her gaze remained a little longer on Sora than it did Riku and they both knew it was not because Sora was just then taking a seat between his friends. Ever since they had arrived home and explained their stories to everyone, Nari had been dropping hints about at least _one_ of the twos boys getting together with Kairi—namely Sora. Some of the mayor's hints were subtle, others not so much, and some Sora just did not know where to place on the subtlety scale; now, for instance. Thankfully, Sora's poor brain did not have to suffer thinking about her words as she went to say, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you three planned to meet here this morning."

"Well..." Sora shared a look with his friends before sighing heavily. Looking into the woman's' patient eyes, he said, "We kinda did."

"Has to do with that bottle you're hiding under the table, doesn't it, Sora?" Jumping slightly, the brunette looked to his left to see Akito looking at him, paper folded underneath his hands; sometimes he swore the man knew Yuffie and just was not telling them.

"Yes, sir," Sora replied meekly, an embarrassing blush across his face as he set the bottle in front of him on the table, the King's letter inside.

For the next half hour, Sora explained the King's message and what the three of them had decided to do, Riku and Kairi throwing in their two cents as well. When they were done, the three teens waited in silence, anxiously awaiting the response of the mayor.

"Hmm..." Mayor Nari hummed as she looked over the King's letter, one hand up to her mouth with the middle of her pointer finger pressed lightly to her mouth and her thumb under chin; her half-eaten omelette was completely forgotten on the plate in front of her. She read over the words the King had written for what felt like an eternity to the teens before she sighed, lowering the letter to the table with her eyes closed. When she opened her purple orbs a second later, she quickly glanced to her husband, flicking her gaze to the three anxious young adults across from her (Riku now sitting in his chair properly). "Are you three absolutely sure you want to do this?"

"Yes."

"Kairi, you said the only time you really fought was a month ago," her dad said, staring at her seriously—or at least as seriously as he could with his hair still sticking up everywhere.

"Yeeaahh," the girl in question replied, not sure where her dad was going with this.

"Are you absolutely positive you can take care of yourself—that you won't get hurt or kidnapped again?"

"Dad, I'll be fine! I'll be with Sora and Riku, not to mention Donald and Goofy!" she exclaimed, silently praying that they were not seriously thinking about keeping her there on the islands again; she just _knew_ she would go crazy if she had to wait for them again—last time was enough, Naminé making everyone forget about her best friends excluded. "Besides, if I _did_ get kidnapped again, —!" she continued, only to be cut off by the sound of two chairs scraping against the tiled floor.

"We'd go and find her!" Sora stated firmly, a fire in his ocean blue eyes—one that made his eyes look more like Roxas' than his own.

"And then we'd punish whoever it was that thought they could get away with taking her from us," Riku added, his voice carrying the tone of the same fire within Sora's eyes.

Kairi looked up at both boys in amazement, then looked back at her parents. Nari and Akito watched with guarded expressions as their adopted daughter stood and joined hands with Sora, the brunette joining hands with Riku at the same time. The three teenagers stared down the mayor and her husband for several minutes; neither party moved or said a thing within that time frame.

After another five minutes, Nari sighed and shared a glance with Akito. "You can go."

Kairi squealed with joy before running around to the other side of the table to hug her now smiling parents as she exclaimed, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" over and over again.

For the rest of the day, the three teenagers went around to their families and explained the King's letter, their decision, and their reasons for wanting to go to Riku's and then Sora's parents. They had a much harder time getting Riku's parents to agree to letting him go than they did Sora's, mainly because they wanted their son to finish his schooling before he went out on another adventure. Thankfully, they relented once Kairi promised that the three of them would take summer classes when they came back if they had to. Sora's mom was much more easy to deal with than his dad when they explained everything. The man was adamant that his son _not_ go on another mission for some mouse king that he had never seen before—the man had never seen Donald and Goofy a month ago when the two boys had fallen from the sky into the ocean ten miles off shore of the Paopu island because he was at work and could not get off until well after the King and his friends had left. The three took up five minutes arguing with the man before Riku finally threatened to punch the man through a wall if he thought he could stop the brunette from protecting him and everyone else on the islands and every other world out there from the forces of Darkness, Sora's mom staying silent through it all.

**SCENE CHANGE!!**

That night on the Paopu tree, the three friends sat talking about what to tell their friends the next day.

"We should just tell them that we're going away for a while," stated Riku, staring out to the ocean like he normally did when on the little island.

"We can't do that. It's too vague." Kairi, from her perch on the parallel-to-the-ground trunk of the Paopu tree, was now giving the silverette a stern glare as he continued to lean against the tree.

"Kairi's right, Riku," piped up Sora, "We have to tell them the truth."

Sighing, Riku resigned himself to agreeing with the two fifteen-year-olds instead of arguing with them for the rest of the night and ever getting any sleep.

* * *

No chapter notes from me for once! HOLY FECK!! **(O.O)**

Kit: First off—MARLUXIA, NO KILLING LUXORD!!! ASIDE FROM HIM BEING YOUR SUPERIOR, HE OWES ME 5000 MUNNY FOR LYING ABOUT MY SPELLING OF "shoddy" IN THE OPENING AUTHOR'S NOTE!!!  
Marluxia: **glares at Luxord and begrudgingly removes his scythe from the blond's neck before storming away from the gambler** You WILL pay, Luxord!  
Larxene: **hits Marluxia in the head** I told you we were drunk! I think Xigbar spiked that punch we had at that party.  
Xigbar: **hears that and misses the bull's-eye of the target he's shooting at because of it** Hey now! I didn't go anywhere _near_ that punch, remember! I may love sherbet and all, but my stomach just does NOT agree with sherbet being mixed with those beverages!! Besides, I knew someone was gonna spike it sooner or later anyway!  
Larxene: Then who the hell spiked that punch?!  
Kit: **(-_-)** I think it was Xaldin, if you want my opinion. NOW DEBATE THAT LATER!!! **gives them ALL death glares to shut up** Anyway, I know that my "letter from the King" was kinda too long to appear on that little piece of paper Sora dumps out of the bottle in the ending cutscene of the game, but I needed something good. Sorry about that, guys. And about the description of Mayor Nari—I was totally head-keyboarding while I typed that 'cause I usually don't write that way, the whole 'describing the make-up' thing that is, so that was my first time doing it. ...And I think I did an okay job now that I think about it. I stayed up til about midnight describing her make-up and then most of the following four days—either at home or at school—before 2nd period writing the rest. Anyways, I COULD have made this longer, but then it probably would've gotten out of hand and besides, it long enough as is what with having to make the thing DOUBLE-SPACED in order to be turned in and get proper points!! I kinda made this thing, like... SEVENTEEN PAGES LONG WHEN DOUBLE-SPACED!!


	2. The Girl

**"You Found Me"**

**Chapter 2: The Girl**

_**SUMMARY:**_ _What happens when someone lost is suddenly found by the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, but won't give any details but the name of a cousin they so desperately want to see? The Darkness is on the move again, the only question is "Why?". This is my take on what I think KH3 will be (I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT WHOLE "Sora goes into a newspaper or whatever and gets suckered into becoming a sort of murderer!" CRAP IS THE 'TRUE' KH3!) and will be a __**slight**_ _crossover with FF6, FF7, FF8, FF9, and FFX & FFX-2. ... Not to mention a bit AU for some messing around with families on my part. __**sweatdrop**_ _Yeah, pairings will DEFINITELY include the following (any chapter after this one will have only the changes to pairings mentioned here; all currently changed ones are bolded and underlined):  
__**FROM KH ONLY:**_ _SoraxKairi, Rikux?, RoxasxNaminé, _**AxelxOC**_ (Kano, NOT Kanako), Zemyx (a.k.a. ZexionxDemyx for those who have been living under a rock and because I just can NOT bring myself to pair these two up with anyone else but each other! __**XD**__)  
__**FROM FF6 ONLY:**_ _Locke ColexTerra Branford, Setzer GabbianixGogo (with Gogo later turning out to be Setzer's old girlfriend he thought was dead, Darryl! __**XD**_ _I just KNOW I'm gonna be dodging dice for this one once he reads it!)  
__**FROM FF7 ONLY:**_ _CloudxTifa, ZackxAerith, Cid HighwindxShera (yeah, I'm throwing in Highwind's wife from the FF7 mini-series! __**;P**__), _**TsengxRufus, RudexElena (yay TURKS!), RenoxOC (Kit), Reeve TuestixVincent**_ (for any KH fans who don't know who Reeve is, copy and paste the following into your browser and take out all the spaces: finalfantasy . wikia . com / wiki / List _ of _ Dirge _ of _ Cerberus _ -Final _ Fantasy _ VII - _ Characters  
Just scroll down until you see "World Regenesis Organization" and click on the two names underneath that to learn more about Reeve Tuesti)  
__**FROM FF8 ONLY:**_ _LeonxRinoa (once again, another reason for the AU warning), ZellxQuistis, IrvinexSelphie, SeiferxFujin (with Fujin starting out as Fuu, but that will all be explained in the later chapters I'm planning on writing)  
__**FROM FF9 ONLY:**_ _**ZidanexOC (bite me, Garnet-lovers!), KujaxOC**__**  
FROM FFX & FFX-2 ONLY:**_ _TidusxYuna, WakkaxLulu, BuddyxRikku (like I said on my profile, just to piss Brother off! __**XD**__), GippalxPaine (look at my profile for my reason behind this)  
__**CROSSOVER PAIRINGS:**_ _SephirothxUltimecia (Sephy obviously from FF7, Ultimecia being from FF8)__**LATER CHANGED TO SEPHxKIRA**__  
And there may be more, I just need to think of them; the MickeyxMinnie and DonaldxDaisy pairings are obviously implied considering it's Kingdom Hearts. Also, I know I'm taking on a monster with writing this, but I seriously want to write it anyways! Can anyone say mental-masochist? But I think I've said too much. Just please read and review? _**:(** By the way, any chapter after this will only have the pairings that got changed. This chapter has changed/added pairings in bold and underlined. (The exception is obvious.)**  
**

**Thanks to anyone** **for alerting this story! You kick ass!**

**Thanks to vIoLeT bUtTeRfLy 90 and S h m i l e y's He. for reviewing the last chapter! Love you girls!**

Kit: Hey everyone! Kit here! Well, I'm back, just over a YEAR after the first chapter was written! Totally meant to start writing this chapter WAAAAY sooner (like over the summer), but just never did. (What can I say, I'm hooked on reading fanfics more than I am writing them. XD) Anyways, if you can manage to find it in the jumble of pairings up there, I changed the _AxelxXion_ to "AxelxOC"; the OC is gonna be a male. I also changed _RenZoo_ to "RenoxOC" because... well... I can't seem to keep Yazoo in character enough to be paired with the redheaded Turk when he's a good guy. **DX** Yeah, that was a spoiler for later in the story; Yazoo's a total double-agent. Then I changed _VincentxYuffie_ and _ReevexShalua_ to "ReevexVincent" because... well... I actually didn't know how the hell I was gonna write Yuffie and Vincent being a pairing and I also figured out I wouldn't be able to keep Shalua in character, so... yeah... Reeve and Vincent are now together! **XDD** You can all thank Xenobia for this pairing; she made me love it! Finally for the FF7 pairings, I changed _TsengxElena_ to "TsengxRufus" and added in "RudexElena". I vaguely remember something from FF7 where Reno and Rude were talking in the forest outside Gongaga and Reno saying something about Rude liking Elena, so... yeah. **XD** Cue my insanity! Also, I added FF9 to the mix! **XDD** I am TOTALLY going to kill myself writing this thing! And I know that most people would pair Zidane up with Garnet/Dagger, but I felt like throwing an OC of my one best friend, Eevee, into here as well. **XD** She's probably gonna love me for it, too! And I actually don't know why I paired Kuja up with an OC, but I did. Now to come up with a character to fit that OC. **O.o** Anyways, WELCOME TO CHAPTER TWO OF "You Found Me"! Hope you all enjoy it and the disclaimer being read by Riku!  
Riku: The Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy video game series belong to Disney and Square Enix. KitaraStrife only owns the plotline of this fanfic and three original characters-all female-while another is owned by one of her best friends, S h m i l e y's He., and the last is semi-copyright Eevee ("semi" because Kit's the only one to actually write Riiko; Eevee just came up with the name). The song that inspired this entire fanfic is by Kelly Clarkson. Any similarities to any real world person/people are not intended and thus just are. Kit is not making any money by writing this because she is just doing it for fun and to improve her own writing skills.  
Kit: Thank you, Riku. **hugs him** Now then, since I have nothing else to say, ON WITH THE SHOW!

_"words"_ means Person talking on the other end of any phone of any sort or that weird video thing Cid shows up on in the manga when Donald's trying to fly the Gummi ship (XDD); Flashback-like sequences; Recaps in later chapters  
"words" means Regular talking  
_'words'_ means Thinking  
_**"words"**_ means Sora and or Kairi talking with their Nobodies in their heads

* * *

_**RECAP!:**_ _That night on the Paopu tree, the three friends sat talking about what to tell their friends the next day._

_"We should just tell them that we're going away for awhile," stated Riku, staring out to the oceon like he normally did when on the little island._

_"We can't do that. It's too vague." Kairi, from her perch on the parallel-to-the-ground trunk of the Paopu tree, was now giving the silveret a stern glare as he continued to lean against the tree._

_"Kairi's right, Riku," piped up Sora, "We have to tell them the truth."_

_Sighing, Riku resigned himself to agreeing with the two fifteen-year-olds instead of arguing with them for the rest of the night and never getting any sleep._

****PAOPU****

The next day, the three teens had gathered their friends on the island off the shore of the main one, the island they all used to play on before everything with Kingdom Hearts happened.

"So, what did you guys wanna talk about?" asked Tidus, lounging in the sand underneath Selphie who was sitting on the dock.(1)

"Yeah, why get us all out here if you're not gonna talk, ya?" added Wakka as he leaned against the steps leading down from the docks as his girlfriend, Lulu sat on the steps next to him.(2) All four of them looked to the three key bearers as they looked at each other before nodding.

"What's with the nodding?" Tidus wondered, even though he was getting a feeling they were going to explain themselves anyway.

"We're... going away for awhile," Sora said, ignoring the 'Y_ou've-got-to-be-kidding-me'_ look Riku was giving him for using the exact words he and Kairi had said they should _not_ use when telling their friends about the King's letter.

"What do ya mean you're goin away for awhile?" Wakka inquired; he and the others knew exactly what Sora meant by those words and they did not like it one bit. Well, all except for Lulu; she was giving off a vibe of indifference as usual.

"We don't know how long we'll be away for, but hopefully it's not as long as the last couple of times," Kairi added, giving Sora a quick look of '_I-thought-that's-why-we-agreed-no-on-telling-them-those-words'_ before deciding to hit him for it later.

"Why are you going away this time?" Selphie asked, tilting her head in honest curiosity. The last time the other three had disappeared, there had been no warning plus everyone but Kairi had one-hundred percent forgotten about Sora. She just knew there had to be a reason this time; there was no way they were building a raft and getting off the island this time, even if the raft they built nearly two years ago was not how they got off their world anyway.

Taking the bottle from Sora's pocket, Riku held it up. "This should explain it." He tossed it to Wakka and then patiently waited while he and the others read it.

"Impossible," Lulu suddenly uttered, the first to react to the letter.

"Pretty possible, considering all the people there still were on Traverse Town the last time Kairi and I saw it," responded Sora.

"You can't possibly think she's actually related to you, Sora!" remarked Tidus. "I mean, it could be a trap!"

"Why would his own friends set a trap for him, Tidus?" Selphie exclaimed, lightly kicking the blond in the head with a perfect angle from her position.

"How should I know! I don't know them!" he quipped.

"My Aunt Amaya's been missing her daughter since Kairi first came back," explained the brunet, making Tidus shut up.

"So... you guys are gonna go and investigate to make sure the girl wasn't sent to trap you?" inquired Wakka, handing the rebottled letter back to Riku.

"Exactly. Donald and Goofy will be arriving within a week to get us," informed the silveret.

The four teenagers looked at each other before silently agreeing on something.

"We're coming with you guys," stated Tidus, a serious expression on his countenance.

"I don't think that would be such a good idea, guys. There's only so much room on the gummi ship..." warned Sora, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Besides, you guys weren't really invited," Kairi added, immediately regretting her choice of words as she saw the instant fire in Tidus's eyes. Thankfully, Lulu was quicker than the blond with her words.

"At least promise you'll come back for help if things get too messy," stated the black-clothed teen.(3)

"We will," agreed Riku, shooting a glance to Tidus that told him to speak up if he wanted his ass kicked; Tidus wisely kept quiet.

"Alright. You guys better let us know when you're leaving, ya. We all wanna be able to say good-bye."

"We will."

****PAOPU****

Oddly enough, word spread quickly around the island that Sora, Riku, and Kairi were going out on another intergalactic journey and for the rest of the week, the three of them had to deal with well wishes and a few reprimands from their teachers (until Kairi brought up the whole summer school thing) all while packing things they would need for their journey; they all had a strange feeling that they would be gone for longer than just a couple of days to a week and packed accordingly.

Finally, the day came when Donald and Goofy showed up at Sora's door. Well, more like his window.

"Sora! Wake up!" called a squawking voice, jerking the teen out of a nice dream involving sea-salt ice cream and Paopu fruit, not to mention a certain friend of his, and making him fall out of bed with a short cry.(4) Peering back over the edge of his bed, Sora glared out his window.

"Geez, Donald. Do you think you could shout any louder?" he grumbled, rubbing his head and stifling a yawn as he looked at his clock; his eyes widened. "It's three in the morning! Couldn't you have waited until the sun was at least up?"

"Well, gawrsh, Sora. We're sorry," said Goofy. "Our clock says that it's seven."(5)

"Well, your clock's wrong on this world," grumbled Sora as he climbed back onto his bed and curled up in the covers again.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" squawked Donald, reaching through the window to yank at the covers; Sora had one hell of a grip on them.

"I'm going back to sleep. Wake me up again in three more hours," he griped, swatting at the duck's wi-er, hand.

"Why you-"

"Alright, Sora. We'll see you in a few hours," Goofy said before Donald could shout again. He dragged his comrade back inside the gummi ship and flew them off to the beach to wait for the sun to rise.

Elsewhere at Riku's house, the key bearer of Twilight had already sensed the arrival of the King's Captain of the Guard and Court Magician friends and was getting his things together, double-checking everything. Somehow knowing he was the only one who had sensed their arrival, the silveret decided to take his time and go around to Wakka, Lulu, Tidus, and Selphie's houses and inform them that they would be leaving soon. He figured Tidus and Wakka would make enough noise to alert the whole island and headed to Kairi's house to wake the girl up. After knocking on the door at least three times (it was a big house compared to most of the other ones on the island), Akito opened the doors looking as out of it as ever after being woken up.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir," Riku said as Akito just stared at him with blinking eyes. "But the day's arrived for us to leave. Mind if I come in and wake up Kairi?"

"Yeah, sure. Just don't wake me up again," mumbled Akito as he yawned and walked back up the stairs toward his and Nari's bedroom as the mayor herself came out wearing a lavender night robe.

"Riku? Is something wrong? Are those creatures back again?" she inquired, curious as to why the boy was at their house at such an hour.

"No, ma'am. Just our ride. Mind if I wake up Kairi?"

"Too late for that, you jerk," grumbled a voice to the right of the top of the staircase. Kairi came out rubbing her eyes and looking like she was contemplating throwing one of her pink slippers at Riku.

"Sorry, Kairi," he chuckled, not really able to suppress his mirth at seeing her with her hair all disarrayed like it was.

"Shut up or I'm throwing my hair dryer at you when we're on the ship," she griped, walking back down the hallway to her room to get changed.

After grabbing her things and giving her parents good-bye hugs and kisses, Kairi and Riku set off back toward his house so he could grab his things before walking to Sora's to get the boy out of bed. Knowing his parents did not care if either of them let themselves in, Riku opened the door and dropped his bags before heading up to the brunet's room to wake him up. Opening the door, he smirked at what he saw: Sora draped half on and half off his bed with the covers all scrunched up to the one side and covering only his torso, leaving his sunset red cloud-print boxers viewable; Riku did not even know he still had that pair. His smirk widening mischievously, Riku tiptoed over to the bed and leaned over until his mouth was only a few millimeters from Sora's ear. He slowly sucked in a huge breath.

"WAKE UP!" he shouted, quickly jumping back to avoid getting hit in the face, gut, or groin by a flailing hand as the brunet once again fell off his bed with a shout.

"Dammit, Donald! I thought I told you to—!" Looking around, Sora saw not the duck he was cursing, but the grinning face of his best friend looming over him. "Riku! What the heck did you have to go and do that for?" he demanded, glaring at the silveret; Riku's grin never left his face.

"If I didn't, you would have slept for the rest of the day."

"No I wouldn't. Are you forgetting how attuned my body is to waking up early now?" griped the boy as he hopped around, pulling his clothes on.

"Oh really? Even after getting all those well-wishers until midnight last night and apparently Donald waking you up ealier?" If anything, Sora swore Riku's grin was widening.

"Yes, really." Sora finally pulled on his shoes and picked up his bags. "Well, let's go," he said, trudging past Riku out his door and greeting Kairi once downstairs.

"And where do you think you're going, young man?" Sora turned around to see his parents standing on the steps, staring at him and his friends; his dad was the one who had spoken.

"Our friends are here, dad," he stated.

"I thought I recognized a squawking voice at three a.m.," his mother said with a light smile.

"Yeah, sorry about that. That was Donald being a jerk. As usual," Sora laughed nervously, adding the last part under his breath.

"That imaginary humanoid duck? OW!" Sora's father looked at his wife as she glared at him, rubbing his head where she had just slapped him.

"He's not imaginary, Riichi. Why won't that knowledge get through that thick skull of yours?" sighed Jun.

"Because he always has to see things with his own eyes to believe them, mom."

"That is not true-"

"Oh yes it is, mister. You didn't believe Sora could ever fight with a sword until you saw him and Riku sparring. You couldn't believe there was a girl who had washed up on the beach until you went to the mayor's house and saw her with your own eyes. You didn't believe I was pregnant until you came home from work-late-_fourteen weeks_ after I told you. Do I need to continue?" Jun crossed her arms over her chest and stared at her husband with a look that just dared him to deny any or all of what she had just said. Riichi had the sense to look sheepish. "That's what we thought," she smirked, tossing a wink Sora's way and making him laugh.

"They're down at the beach if you wanna see them for yourself, dad," offered the brunet, walking back up the stairs to give his mom a hug; she refused and told him that she would hug him later.

"Fine. Let's go."

"You sure you don't wanna change first?"

"The entire island is gonna be there to see us off, Sora," reminded Kairi. "I don't think any of them will care if your dad changes or not."

"Good point," he laughed. With that, they all headed off to the beach. Once there, Riku smirked at all the people that were crowding around the gummi ship just to say good-bye to them; at the front of the group, closest to the ship, were Wakka, Tidus, Lulu and Selphie and all four of them were chatting with Donald and Goofy; Lulu seemed to be chatting with Donald the most, though Riku could not for the life of him figure out why until they got closer and heard the duck explaining different magic techniques to her. "Well, we're here. No thanks to you waking me up at three in the morning, Donald."

"It's not my fault the time zones are different," countered the duck.

"I can't believe it... They actually _are_ real. But... where's that mouse king you kept telling me about?"

"He's back at his castle, sir. He is a king after all; he has to take care of his people," explained Riku, tossing his bags inside for Chip and Dale to place somewhere where they would not be underfoot.

"Hm... you make a good argument there..." Riichi looked back at Goofy and Donald, noticing them staring at him. "Uhh..."

"Donald, Goofy. This is my dad, Riichi. Dad, Donald and Goofy," introduced Sora, smiling triumphantly at his father.

"Nice to meet ya," said Goofy, extending his hand and shaking Riichi's; Donald did the same a minute later.

"Uh... likewise..." Jun smirked, knowing this one was a little harder to take in than a five-year-old Kairi washing up on the beach.

"We better get goin'. The King's awaitin'!" exclaimed Goofy, looking at the three key bearers.

"Right." They turned to their friends and fellow islanders.

"We'll see you guys later," Sora said, loud enough for everyone to hear; good thing he had a large lung capacity.

"Don't worry about us too much." That was Kairi.

"We'll be back." Riku.

They turned to their friends exclusively now, exchanging quick hugs and pats on the back with them before they each turned to their parents and hugged them one last time.

"Sora," called Jun, causing her son to turn around on his way inside the gummi ship. "Don't leave anything you wouldn't want someone else to see in your pockets, just in case someone does your laundry for you."

"Huh?"

"I saw the bottle the night after you found it."

"Oh. Sorry, mom."

"It's fine, dear."

"You three just be safe," called out Keiko, Riku's mother.

"Watch out for each other," said Akito.

"Don't talk to strangers unless you're interrogating them," smirked Nari.

"Come home safe," called all the islanders.

"Or if things get too much for you guys to handle alone!" added Tidus.

Laughing, Sora replied with, "Okay. We will. See ya, everyone!" before he finally boarded the gummi ship, only to be stopped by another voice, one he knew all too well.

"Sora..." He turned, facing his aunt, her short yellow hair in an untidy mess and pale blue eyes red from crying and worrying about her daughter. He walked back down the ramp and hugged her. "Bring her home, please... I... I just know the girl this king mentioned is her. Please... bring her home."

"We will, Aunt Amaya. We will." Squeezing her tighter for a second, Sora let go and smiled at his aunt before running up the ramp once again. He took one last look out at the multitude of people gathered and saw his mother pull her sister-in-law into a hug as she broke down crying again before the hangar door closed. A minute later they were lifting off and then heading out into space toward Disney Castle.

****PAOPU****

Thirty minutes in warp drive later, the gummi ship pulled into the hangar of Disney Castle. Disembarking, the three key bearers followed Donald and Goofy up the stairs and out into the courtyard.(6)

"Wow! It's so pretty!" exclaimed Kairi as she looked around at all the hedges trimmed to look like different people and things. Nearly dead ahead of the hangar entrance-exit was a hedge trimmed to look like a bull playing a flute, while to the left of it was a huge one trimmed to look like a pig playing a trumpet; another one farther to the left looked to be playing either a french horn or a tuba. The redhead insisted upon circling to the right to see the other hedges: a horse playing the cymbols and a dog playing a trombone. She barely had time to register that the entrance-exit to the hangar was a castle-styled hedge before Riku grabbed her arm and pulled her along behind them towards the colonnade laughing at her fascination; Sora was grinning stupidly at his friend's antics.

Turning to the left and ascending a flight of stairs before taking another left, the girl wrenched her arm out of the silveret's grip to run over to the oddly rather _high_ railing, jumping up to peek over the top at the courtyard below.

"Awesome view, huh, Kairi?" Sora asked, jumping up next to her, goofy grin still in place.

"It's so beautiful! I wonder what the rest of the castle looks like!" she replied excitedly.

"Well you can find out after you meet with the king," Donald squawked, grabbing both fifteen-year-olds by the backs of their outfits and pulling them down.

"Where is the king anyway, Donald?" inquired Riku, smiling and shaking his head at his friends while his eyes did the laughing for him.

"The king and queen should be in the audience chamber," informed Goofy, leading the way to a pair of rather _giant_ purple doors. Knocking on a small section of the left one first, he opened up a more normal-sized "door" and walked through, holding it open for everyone else.

"Good morning, your majesties," called Donald, the duck having taken the lead from Goofy.

"Ah, Donald, Goofy! Great timing, fellas!"

Kairi had once again been distracted by the surroundings—a very _large_, spacious room with a _tall_ ceiling, ten equally tall white ribbed-pillars on either side; a gold-trimmed red banner emblazoned with the king's symbol hanging from the ceiling at the far end of the room; a narrow but long strip of gold-yellow light directly in the center of the ceiling that she guessed was either a rather large lamp or a skylight of sorts; and a _long_ gold-trimmed red carpet in the center of the floor leading from the giant purple doors—and did not register the voice until a minute later. Blinking, she noticed they were all suddenly before a raised blue platform with two golden thrones resting upon it, two mice sitting in each throne.(7) The one who had spoken she recognized as the king, while she assumed the other in the ornate pink-and-red dress was his wife and thus queen.

"Your majesty. It's been a while," said Riku as he bent down to hug the black-red-and-yellow clad mouse who had left his throne to greet them.

"Not as long as I had hoped, Riku," he replied.

"Hey, Minnie," Sora greeted the queen, earning him a whack to the shin with Donald's Save the Queen+ staff.

"That's _Queen_ Minnie or your majesty to you, Sora!"

"It's quite all right, Donald. I don't mind if Sora or his friends just call me 'Minnie'," giggled the queen.

"Oh! Right! You haven't met Riku or Kairi yet!" the brunet exclaimed before grabbing Kairi's hand. "Minnie, this is Kairi. Kairi, Queen Minnie."

"It's nice to meet you, ma'am," Kairi said, shaking Minnie's hand.

"Oh, please, I'd much rather you call me Minnie than anything else," she replied. "And it's nice to finally meet the Princess of Heart that's captivated Sora so." This caused both fifteen-year-olds to blush.

"Riku, this is my wife, Minnie."

"Pleasure to meet you, Riku," Minnie said, shaking the silveret's hand.

"Likewise, Minnie."

"Well, Sora, I think we should get straight to the reason why you're all here. Let's move to the library," Mickey said, jumping immediately to business. Filing back out to the colonnade, all seven took a right to the end of the hall and entered the library. Inside was a skylit room with a tall candelabra on either side of the door, a fireplace on the right wall, a huge bookcase directly opposite the entrance, a set of ten shutter-like doors that where either actually windows or more book storage to the left with a desk and chair sitting in front of them while a dog bed and food bowl (both Pluto's) sat behind the chair; Kairi could not help but notice the broom walking around on its own with two buckets of water, but didn't say anything.

King Mickey went straight to the desk and pulled something out of a drawer, handing it to Sora. "I hope this girl _is_ your cousin, Sora."

Taking what he now knew was the picture Leon sent to the king with his letter, the key bearer of Light took one look at it and gasped, happy tears beginning to fill his eyes; Kairi and Riku looked at the picture and uttered soft gasps of their own.

There in the picture, sitting upon a bed, was a girl who looked to be about fourteen with long, softly spiked light brown hair with eyes like blueberries; everything else was covered up by blankets as she clutched them to her, her arms wrapped tightly about her bent knees.

"Sora?" questioned Minnie, concern showing on not only her face, but Mickey, Donald and Goofy's faces as well.

"It... she... there's no mistaking it. This is her," he whispered, a tear falling first from one eye then the other, a smile upon his face. He looked up from the picture. "She's not lying; she _is_ my cousin!"

"We have to go and get her, Sora!" Kairi exclaimed.

"Right."

Riku said nothing, only staring at the girl, Sora's cousin, in the picture. He couldn't believe she had gotten so beautiful, and she looked healthier than she had ever been before. He remembered her as the girl that could only play with them every now and then, usually only twice a month, having to stay cooped up in her room the rest of the time due to an illness, one that no one on their world knew a cure to.(8)

It took him two minutes to register everyone staring at him curiously, Sora and Kairi calling out his name. "Huh?"

"Are you okay, Riku?" inquired Kairi, leaning in just a bit to get a better look at his face.

"Yeah, you were staring off into space or something."

Shaking his head, the silveret gave a small smile. "I'm fine, really. I'm just... shocked that she looks healthier than she used to be."

"Huh?" It was his friends' turn to be shocked as they looked back at the picture. "You're right, Riku! She does look healthier!"

"Wonder why that is..." pondered Kairi, a finger on her chin in thought.

"Well, whatever the reason, you three should head to Radiant Garden ASAP and see her," Mickey said, all business yet happy that the girl _was_ related to Sora.

"Oh, right! Thanks, Your Majesty, for everything!" Sora said, bending down to give Mickey a hug, doing the same with Minnie. Kairi and Riku followed suit before turning to follow Donald and Goofy out of the room.

Only the doors opened before anyone moved.

"Donald! Why didn't you tell me you were back?" The three humans swore they heard Donald mutter an "uh-oh" as the duck in a fancy purple dress and lavender gloves stalked towards the clue-clad one.

"But, Daisy, I—"

"Hi, Daisy. Nice to see you again," Sora intervened, mentally smirking at the whispered-under-the-breath thank you Donald sent his way as he pulled Daisy's attention away from him.

"Oh! Hello again, Sora. Nice to see you again, too," Daisy replied, spotting Riku and Kairi behind him. "I see your friends are with you this time."

"Yeah. This is Riku—" the silveret inclined his head—"and Kairi. Guys, this is Daisy, Donald's sweetheart."

"Nice to meet you, Daisy," smiled Kairi, shaking a wing-hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two as well, Kairi. Now then," she said, turning back to Donald with a glare. "Care to explain yourself, Donald."

"Daisy," Donald all but whined.

"Daisy, we kind of need to borrow Donald for a bit longer. We need his help to fly the gummi ship to Radiant Garden to pick up my cousin," informed Sora gently, smiling apologetically at the female duck. Looking between the keyblade master of Light and her boyfriend, Daisy sighed.

"Very well. But keep him in line, Sora!"

"We will," he laughed.

"Come on, everybody. We shoud get goin," Goofy finally said, heading out of the library to get back to the gummi hangar. Telling Daisy he'd be back as soon as he could, Donald hurried after the Captain of the Guard with the three humans behind him.

Buckling in, Donald prepared the gummi for liftoff. A minute later, they were on their way to Radiant Garden.

"So, Kairi," began Sora, looking at his best friend since age five. "How does it feel to be going back to your home world?" Kairi raised an eyebrow at the question.

"What do you mean, Sora?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you remembered anything from Radiant Garden after our last two adventures, that's all."

"Not really, sorry," she replied, shaking her head lightly.

While the two younger humans talked between themselves, Riku stared out of the porthole by his seat, thinking about the girl in the picture. Would she remember he and Kairi? Would she even recognize Sora? There were so many questions running around in his head they were starting to hurt.

Then the Heartless ships showed up.

"SORA!" called Donald.

"On it!" he replied, rushing to the weapons controls. "Riku, Kairi, strap yourselves in, okay?"

"Right," they said, doing as instructed. Sora returned fire as Donald and Goofy worked together to fly the ship and avoid taking a large amount of damage.

No one's perfect.

Kairi screamed as a hit from a Shiva model Heartless gummi rocked theirs; Riku reached over and grabbed her hand, the action being the only thing he could do to comfort her in the situation. She thanked him with a small smile and light squeeze of the hand.

Two minutes later, Donald announced that they were finally within Radiant Garden's orbit and were beginning to land. Sora flopped back in his seat.

"Phew... Been a while since I did that. Was it just me, or were they more aggressive than usual?"

"I don't know, Sora," replied Goofy as he activated the landing gear for Donald.

"The Heartless are always aggressive, Sor. Especially towards us keyblade wielders," Riku told him, rolling his eyes as he unbuckled and stood up. Kairi and the others followed suit before heading for the entrance-exit ramp.

"I guess you're right, Riku."

They all exited the gummi, only to be greeted with swords pointed at them.

"Halt! You are in violation of the gummi landing law," a man wearing a knight's suit of armor and a stern face informed them.

"Gummi landing law? What's that?" inquired Sora. "That wasn't around a month ago..."

"Who are you and where are you from?" the man demanded, not lowering his weapon in the slightest even if his men—also in armor—began to lower their own.

"Rusty, give 'em a break. They didn't know," called a voice from above them. Looking up, the group of five saw a teen in blue and brown flip down from a building, landing in a crouch as something swished directly behind him not but two inches away.

"You have a tail!" Kairi gasped.

"Hm?" The boy looked behind him before turning his attention back to her with a smile. "Yeah. Wanna touch it?"

"Zidane! Don't interfere with my interrogation!"

"Ahh, leave them alone, Rusty! They just said they haven't been here in awhile," Zidane replied, glaring at the man in armor.

"What's going on here?" asked a commandingly soft yet gruff voice. The soldiers split and allowed a familiar, leather-clad man to pass between them.

"Hey there, Leon. How you been?" Sora asked with a grin.

"Good. How about you, Sora?" the man replied, a smile on his face.

"Sora? The keyblade wielder?" asked the armored man, mouth agape as he stared between Sora and Leon.

"Yep, that's me." The grin on the brunet's face was impossibly huge.

"My apologies, Master Sora. I did not realize who you were," Rusty said, bowing deeply.

"Uh... what?" Sora blinked in confusion at the armored man's words.

"Just go with it," said the blond boy. "I'm Zidane, by the way. Nice to finally meet you, Sora." He stuck out his hand for him to shake. Smiling, Sora shook his hand, echoing his words before the tailed-teen shook Riku and Kairi's hands as well.

"So, Sora. Are you here to make sure the girl isn't lying?" Straight to business as usual with Leon.

"Yeah. Only, I already know she isn't. She is my cousin."

"How can you be so sure?"

Sora held up the picture. "Because I'd recognize my own family anywhere. Unless they dyed their hair or something..." Kairi rolled her eyes at that, while Leon and Riku smirked.

"Alright then. Come on, I'll take you to her. Steiner, show Donald where he can park the gummi ship and then show him to my house."

"Yessir, Commander Leonhart!" said the armored man, Steiner, with a salute before following Donald into the gummi ship as the others followed Leon to his house.

"So, you're a Commander now?" inquired Sora, hands laced behind his head as they walked.

"I always have been, ever since I was seventeen," Leon responded, before his eyes widened. "That's right, you don't know yet."

"Huh? Don't know what yet?"

"We'll all explain later. For now, I think it's best that you just see your cousin." With that, Leon turned down a street that was new to the brunet and walked up the path to the eighth house on the right, opening the door. "Welcome to my—"

"SORA!" cried a happy blur of purple, black, and yellow as it tackled Sora.

"—home. Yuffie," he sighed, finishing his earlier statement.

"It's about time you got here! We have so much to tell you! We all—"

"Yuffie!" barked a big black man, entering the small landing area from the downstairs stairway. "Get the fuck off the kid," he added, trudging up the rest of the stairs to the upper floor

"Oohhhh. You're no fun, Barret!" pouted the ninja girl as the got off Sora, helping him back up; he laughed with his friends as she stomped up the stairs after the black man to whine some more, Sora belatedly noticing he had a prosthetic of sorts on his right hand.

"Well, now that she's gone, I think it's time you—"

"YO, SQUALLIE! RENO RIPPED UP YOUR FLOWERS AGAIN!" yelled a loud, female voice from the backdoor upstairs.

"Did not, yo! You and Riiko were pushin me around again!" cried a male voice that sounded oddly familiar to the four guests. Sighing, Leon led the four up the steps to stand before a young woman in aspaghetti-strap, lacy black tank underneath a dusty purple PRIMROSE tee, blue jeans with a brown leather belt, and a pair of blue-and-purple sneakers on her feet. A gold cross necklace was wound loosely around her neck three times, her yellow blonde hair looked to be tucked up under a blue newsboy hat. Behind her stood a man in a business suit, though he seemed to like wearing it however he wanted with the shirt untucked, jacket open, pants riding low on his hips with a belt barely holding them up. His long, fire bright red hair was what caught Sora's attention and awoke Roxas within him.

"Axel?" he gasped out, his voice sounding of both himself and Roxas. The man looked confused.

"'Scuse me?"

"Axel?" he questioned again, Roxas sighing in his head and going back to sleep.

_**"Sorry, Roxas."**_

_**"It's okay, Sora. I really shouldn't expect him to be back. He used up all his power to help you save Kairi after all."**_

_**"Still, he was your best friend, right? You don't deserve to lose him without saying good-bye."**_

"Yo, Sky! Wake up!" Sora snapped back to outside his head, only to see pale purple nails snapping in his face.

"Huh?"

"Red just said his name's Reno, not Axel. Though, how the fuck do you know Pyro?"

Roxas suddenly took over his body. "His name isn't 'Pyro'! It's Axel!"

With a roll of her eyes, the girl replied, "Yeah, yeah, Roxy. Chill out."

"How do you know me?"

"Pffuh! Please! Remember someone named 'Nonnakx' at all, Roxy?"

Sora's eyes bulged without his consent. "How do you know him?"

"Besides being able to read minds? He's my brother's Nobody," she replied with a grin.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up, yo! Your brother has a Nobody, Kai?" Reno questioned, staring at her.

A shrug. "Yeah. So?"

"You never told us, yo!"

"He was planning on telling everyone when you all told Sora about getting your—" She cut herself off. "Nevermind. They'll hear about that later." Turning to a very confused Sora and his equally confused comrades, she smiled gently. "Name's Kaiya, but call me Kai if you want. You'll get quite a few shocks later. For now, go see your cuz, Sky."

"You're still sticking to the she's-really-his-cousin thing, huh?"

"Yes, Reno. Now shoosh." Kaiya slapped him upside the head and ushered Sora and his friends down a hallway. (By the way, that's me. Haha, I love myself. But I'm not narcissistic or anything. I just love how I act most of the time. But I digress yet again.) Just then, a shout was heard outside, accompanied by a loud thud. "SHIT!"

Running out the back door, Kaiya jumped down the three steps of the porch to a woman in a blood red-trimmed black kimono tank top, the design of roses on the bottom in the same color as the trim; black, billowing arm sleeves held up by a blood red buckle around her forearms, the same design on them as on her shirt. Her black shorts were held up by a blood red belt, a blood red buckle just underneath them on her thigh. Finally, her feet were encased in black leggings above black-and-blood red semi-platform sandals. Her light brown hair was mid-back and pinned up to resemble a ponytail with most of her bangs swept over to the left, her eyes a pretty, seemingly glowing orange.

"Kami—! Riiko, what were you doing this time?"

"Trying to prove to Yuffie I'm just as good a ninja as her," groaned the woman, smiling sheepishly as she stood, picking up a giant fan as she did so.

"Again? Riiko, how many times are you and Yuffie going to do that? You're both twenty-two," Leon sighed. Riiko rolled her eyes and folded her fan, placing it on her back.

"Riiko! You okay?" Zidane jumped off the roof, running over to the woman and immediately checking her over; she laughed and told him she was fine before he hugged her. "I heard you shout from the gummi hangar!"

"Huh? But I thought you were behind us, Zidane?" Kairi said, confused.

"Not when you guys got to the house. I went back to the gummi hangar to bother Rusty some more about pointing his sword at you." A laugh. "He really hates it when I tease him. Anyway, seems like Riiko's alright, and Rusty'll be here soon with your friend. Shouldn't you go see your cousin?"

"Another one!"

"Shut up, Reno!" Riiko hit the man over the head with her fan, to which most laughed at.

"Come on, Sora. Let's go see her," Riku said, putting a hand on the brunet's shoulder.

"Right." With that, Sora headed back into the house with his friends as Goofy stayed outside to wait for Donald. That was when he realized he didn't know which room she was in. "Oh man!"

"Door straight at the end of the hallway, Sky!" called Kaiya.

"Thanks!" With that, the three headed to the door at the hallway's end, Kairi knocking before entering first to make sure the girl was decent and beckoning the boys in after her.

There upon the bed was the girl in the picture. She was sitting with her head pressed against her left knee, looking out the window with her arms wrapped around her leg. She was wearing a black sweater that was a bit too big on her with fingerless fishnet gloves. Her pants were blue with holes at the knees, the right one patched up with a yellow polka dotted red fabric, with a thin brown belt holding them up.

The bedcovers were pushed down so they only covered her feet.

She turned her head and they gasped at the sad, lost look on her face. Not only that, but the fading bruise on her left cheek.

"Sayuri!"

* * *

1. And I curse myself early on in this chapter with the chapter notes! **DX** Oh well. Anyways, I say that Selphie wears a pair of _REALLY_ short shorts underneath that yellow jumper of hers. Besides, KH _is_ supposed to be rated E to E10+ anyways, right? **rolls eyes**  
2. And I bring in Lulu! HAHA! I'm sorry to all who stupidly pair Wakka or Tidus up with Selphie, but I just can NOT pair him up with anyone but Lulu thanks to what happens in FFX-2. **:P** Don't like it, lump it.  
3. Can you see Lulu wearing anything _but_ black? I didn't think so.  
4. Right now I leave this up to the imagination of you readers, but it should be obvious who the "certain friend" is considering what sort of pairings I have up on my account right now. (The Fruits Basket fanfic does not count!)  
5. Not every world has the same time zones and everything. That would just make it totally weird and creepy. **shudders** I don't think I'd be able to stand it if every world I went to the time zones and everything were exactly the same one as mine...  
6. Hey, do you _really_ think they just flew from world to world in one day, even with warp? I don't think so. Also, for some stupid reason I called the courtyard "hedge garden" at first because I couldn't remember the correct name for it! **DX**  
7. Yeah, so it's only Mickey's throne in the game. Bite me for giving Minnie one, too!  
8. Umm... if anyone knows of an illness like this, please tell me what it is so I can state what it is for reference or whatever... I planned on having her be like this from the beginning, so this is _NOT_ a last-minute throw-in thing. Besides, I actually have a "term" or whatever for it that's gonna be mentioned most likely next chapter anyways.

Kit: Well, there you have it folks. The second chapter of YFM; hope you all liked it! Yes, I used Japanese names for Sora and Riku's parents, just like I did with Kairi's. I also did a Japanese name search for potential names to use for Sora's cousin, ending up with Sayuri. I got the meaning of it off of www. behindthename. com/ nmc/ jap. php and, once broken up by the kanji, means "small lily," which I liked. I originally wanted something to do with fire-to have all four basic elements mentioned-and had picked out "Hotaru" which meant "firefly," but I couldn't find any way to break that up and find out what it would mean otherwise, so I ditched it. Anyways, yeah, this has been chapter 2.  
Reno: Here's what Kaiya, Riiko, and Sayuri look like for those of you who can't seem to use your imagination, yo!

Kaiya's Outfit: _**s17. photobucket. com/ albums/ b66/ Siora _ Elric/ Anime% 20Pics% 20widout% 20folder/ ?action = view¤t; = tom-boy. jpg**_

Riiko's Outfit: _**media. photobucket. com/ image/ brown% 20hair% 20anime% 20girl/ Rei _ sama/ Anime%20 girls/ 2007-09-01-69774. jpg?o = 748**_

Sayuri's Outfit: _**media. photobucket. com/ image/ anime% 20girls/ MDGF/ Anime% 20Girls/ anime. jpg?o = 807**_

Kit: RENO! **smacks him** BE NICE, YOU STUPID TURK! **huffs** Anyways, I meant to put Kaiya's twin sister, Kira, in this chapter, but that didn't work out. XD I also meant to throw in Shmiley's character of Kano, but he didn't seem to fit into the chapter. Oh well, he'll show up next chapter. Besides, his entrance is pretty interesting (at least to me and Shmiley), so it's probably for the best that he show up later. **XD** Special recognition in a future chapter (don't know which it's gonna be...) to anyone who can actually guess who Sayuri's mom really is! Though, sadly, I think only FF7 series fans will be able to get it, and namely only those in Japan at that...I'm not gonna give any more hints than that, so you'll just have to do some research if you don't know what I'm trying to allude to. Well, see y'all later!  
Zidane:**flips down from the ceiling** READ AND REVIEW!

_**EDIT, JANUARY 13, 2011!:**_ I realized I accidentally mixed up who I wanted to be Amaya with another character, but I fixed it! So, here's a second hint for who Amaya is: Look in the BEFORE CRISIS: FINAL FANTASY 7 area.


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